Wire fabric for mats



( N o M o d e 1 v 2 s h e e t s s n e e t 1.

RRRRRRRRRRRRRRR T3. No. 448,489. Patented Mar. 17, 1891.

IAILAiI/AIAIAIAIAIMMM/M IQAYAVMYAVAILWAVAIA! (No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 2. A M REEVES WIRE FABRIC FOR MATS.

No. 448,489. Patented Mar. 17, 1891.

INVEN'TQOR TEST.

ffmww UrvrTno STATES PATENT Trice.

WIRE FABRIC FOR MATS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 448,489, dated March 17, 1891.

Application filed November 3, 1890- Serial No. 370,126. (No model.)

To 00% whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ABBOTT M. REEVES, of Decatur, in the county of Macon and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in VV-ire Fabrics for Mat-s, 850., of which the following is a specification.

This invention is in the nature of an improvement on the invention set forth in Letters Patent of the United States No. 401,066, granted to me April 9, 1889; and itconsists in the details of construction and combinations of parts hereinafter set forth and claimed.

In the drawings accompanying and forming a part of this specification, Figure 1 is a plan of a mat formed of the fabric which embodies my invention. Fig. 2 is a diagram showing the different steps in the formation of the strips of which my fabric is composed. Fig. 3 is a section on line X in Fig. 2, and Fig. 4 is a section on line Y, same figure. Fig. 5 is a perspective representation of a fragment of a mat, showing more particularly the construction of the selvage.

In Fig. 2 the wire of which the strips are composed is shown at A. At B are seen zigzags, the result of the first step in the construction of a strip. At C are seen zigzags having each a single bend at each end, as seen in Fig. 3, such bends being the result of the second step. At D are seen zigzags having each two bends at each end, as seen in Fig. 4, and at E is seen the same construction, with the additional peculiarity that the wires of zigzags are obliquely arranged. The third step in the construction of the strip2'. c., the step that forms the second bend-is practically the last, though the subsequent oblique arrangement of the wires of the zigzag's is generally desirable, for reasons that will hereinafter appear.

The Zigzags of strips .formed as described have each straight body-wires 1, downward extensions 2, loops 3, upward extensions 4, and terminating bars 5. (See Fig. 4.) The wires 1 all lie in the same plane. The extensions 2 support wires 1 from contact with the floor,

' loops 3 receive the strip-connecting wires or rods, and the upward extensions 4 carry terminating bars 5 up to thelevel of wires 1, where such bars strengthen the mat and provide transverse scraping-surfaces. The strip-connecting rods 6 are, excepting at the ends of the mat, each run through the loops 3 of two strips, as seen in Figs. 1 and 5. They each extend upward at each end, as seen at 7 in Fig. 5, extend along the surface of the mat, as at 8, and loop downward around another connecting-bar, as at 9. In the shown construction each wire of each end of each zigzag of each strip alternates with or extends around the connecting-rods between two wires of another strip, and the horizontal wires are obliquely arranged, the interplacement of the wires on the connecting-rods making the fab ric more compact, the oblique arrangement improving the appearance and presenting scraping-surfaces in a greater number of directions, and the opposition of the bars 5 of one strip to similar bars of another strip stiffening the mat against upward folding and making it lie closely against the floor. A cheaper mat may be made by interposing zigzags having parallel wires, as seen at D in Fig. 2, between zigzags of other strips, in which case the upward extensions 4. will re-enforce downward extensions 2, and the bars 5 will provide transverse scra pin g-surfaces the same as in the shown construction. The connecting-rods form pivots on which the strips turn in one directionthat is, downward. When the mat is in its natural or operative position, they form a complete selvage, and they reenforce the wearing-surface of the edges of the mat.

The terms upward, downward, and horizontal have been used in a relative sense on the supposition that the fabric is always used on a floor or other horizontal surface.

It is obvious, however, that this is not necessarily the case; but that the fabric,-

while particularly applicable to mats, may be used for a variety of other purposes.

I claim- 1. A mat fabric comprising a surface composed of zigzag strips of wire, the ends of the zigzags being bent downward to form supports, looped to receive connecting-rods, and re turned to the surface to form transverse lines, as set forth.

2. A mat-fabric comprising a surface composed of zigzag strips of wire, having each wire of each strip alternated with the wires of conjoining strips, the ends of the zigzags being bent downward, looped, and returned to the surface, as set forth.

o. The combination, With strips having the looped extensions, of connecting-rods, each extended through the loops of two conjoining strips, bent at the ends to conform to the surface of the strips, and looped around an adjacent connecting-rod, as set forth.

4. A fabric composed of strips of zigzag wire, the bodies forming surface lines in one direction and the ends forming surface lines at or nearly at right angles With the bodies, as set forth.

5. A fabric composed of strips of zigzag Wire, the bodies forming oblique surface lines tending generally in one direction and the ends forming transverse surface lines, as set forth.

In testimony whereof Isign my name in the presence of two subscribing Witnesses.

ABBOTT M. REEVES. Attest:

S. R. GHER, WM. TRAVER. 

